Thousands of faithful catholics celebrated the start of Holy Week in Guayaquil

Hundreds of faithful lined up to receive the blessing of the palms

Catholics in Guayaquil city celebrated Palm Sunday visiting churches, adorning their crucifixes and acquiring traditional wax palm branches to be blessed.

“It’s only once a year, we have to make an effort at our age to come to this special celebration in which we get prepared to receive Jesus and testify that He is alive,” said Albertina Carmona, 76.

Like Albertina, thousands of faithful catholics attended to different churches in Guayaquil to celebrate this Catholic party that represents “the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey, showing humility, in order to give his life for us.” Richard Alarcon, priest of the Cathedral, explained that on His arrival “Jesus was proclaimed as the God-sent  and was received by the parishioners with palm branches.”

For the amount of people in the churches, many had to bless the palms twice, at the beginning and at the end of the Eucharist.

In some churches, members of the Environment Ministry  gave some bamboo plants and explained to the faithful the option of blessing a living plant and plant it at home.